SAN FRANCISCO — Hac Man fever returned to San Francisco on Sunday night.

Jeffrey Leonard threw out the ceremonial first pitch before Game 6 at AT&T Park, conjuring memories of the tumultuous Giants-Cardinals playoff showdown in 1987.

Leonard was a pivotal figure in that National League Championship Series when the Giants fell in seven games.

Just don’t ask Leonard, 57, to see the NLCS MVP trophy he captured in a losing cause.

“Every time I look at that thing it’s like, ‘ARGGGH,’ ” the former outfielder said, waving dismissively. “That feeling will never go away.

“That was an individual accolade. I was a team player. It’s about winning.”

Leonard hit .417 with four home runs and a .917 slugging percentage during that ’87 series. And he did so with a style still beloved in San Francisco — and still reviled in St. Louis.

Leonard irritated the Cardinals with the slow home run trot he made with a limp arm dangling at his side. It became known as “one flap down.”

Maybe he can resurrect that signature move soon on “Dancing with the Stars.” Leonard said he is a candidate for the ABC series and that the network has already interviewed his family.

“It’s a waiting game now,” Leonard said.

The ’87 All-Star lives in Rocklin. He’s no longer involved in baseball but said his bowling average has reached as high as 219.

Now, Hac Man is watching this NLCS with an eye toward revenge. His ’87 team lost Games 6 and 7 on the road; he wants the Cardinals to suffer the same fate.

“I would feel great. I would feel wonderful,” Leonard said. “That would be really, really sweet.”

Giants general manager Brian Sabean moved quickly to dismiss any Tim Lincecum trade speculation Sunday. “Timmy is going to be a Giant,” he told the San Francisco Chronicle.

In his Sunday baseball column, Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe wrote of Lincecum: “He will be available in trade, and it will be interesting to see who bites on the two-time Cy Young winner. The Giants insist his problems this season were strictly mechanical, but opposing teams wonder why his usual 96 mph fastball was around 92 most of the season, and why his first-inning problems (28 runs) were the worst in baseball. Lincecum, 28, is due $22 million in the final year of his contract. Would someone take the gamble?”

Sabean made it clear he won’t be taking such a gamble. He expects Lincecum to have a bounce-back season.

“(Lincecum) has got to learn what it’s like to be knocked down,” Sabean told the Chronicle. “He hasn’t experienced anything like this. College. Minor leagues. Major leagues. It’ll be interesting how he turns this around. He knows what he has to do.”

Cardinals left fielder Matt Holliday was a late scratch before Game 6 because of back tightness.

Carlos Beltran dropped from second to third in the batting order, while Allen Craig shifted from first base to left field. Matt Carpenter batted second and played first base.

Holliday is batting .222 with one home run and seven RBIs in the postseason. His hard slide into second baseman Marco Scutaro was the most controversial play of the series.

James Hetfield of the heavy metal band Metallica got the honors of yelling, “Play ball” to the AT&T Park fans. But first he whipped the crowd into a frenzy by asking, “Are you ready to kick some Cardinal (backside)?”

According to Elias, Barry Zito in Game 5 became just the fourth Giants pitcher since 1920 to finish a postseason game with at least seven scoreless innings while issuing one or fewer walks. The others are Lincecum (2010 NLDS vs. Atlanta), Jason Schmidt (2003 NLDS vs. Florida) and Jack Scott (1922 World Series vs. Yankees.)

This was the first postseason Game 6 in San Francisco since Oct. 15, 1962, when Billy Pierce outdueled Whitey Ford in a 5-2 World Series win.

A transit village with apartments, retailers, restaurants and a hotel is rising in Milpitas next to The Great Mall, close to light rail and the under-construction BART station. It’s one of several Silicon Valley projects sprouting up near transit.